During the past several years, television viewing habits have been rapidly changing in response to an increased availability of viewing content and to technological advances in the distribution and delivery of viewing content. As part of the increased availability of viewing content, more rare (or niche) programs are becoming available for viewers who may be interested in viewing such programs. Unfortunately, as increasingly larger amounts of content are made available, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a viewer to locate the rare content which he/she may be interested in viewing. Viewers who are interested in niche content often find themselves searching for the proverbial “needle in a haystack”.
Current program rating and/or recommendation systems typically rate programs by assigning a number of “stars”, and/or other symbols to the program as an indication of the quality of the program. In other cases, programs and movies may be rated by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) according to MPAA guidelines, and/or may be rated by broadcast and cable television networks according to the networks' guidelines.
Although current rating and/or recommendation systems can be of some assistance to viewers in locating viewing content, many viewers are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the current systems, and do not trust the ratings and/or recommendations provided by such systems. The limitations of current rating and/or recommendation systems are particularly apparent in the case of rare or niche programs. In many cases no ratings have been assigned to such programs, and in cases where a rating has been assigned, those with an interest in rare or niche programs often find that the ratings provided by the current program rating and/or recommendation systems cannot be trusted, and/or are suited for typical viewer preferences rather than for the unique preferences of the niche viewer.